CONWY SEE RED AGAIN IN DEFEAT AT THE OVAL

But Herbert's men were left with too much work to do to get something from the game. The result means that the Canaries leapfrog Conwy Borough into second place in the Huws Gray Cymru Alliance League.

Before the game Conwy manager Chris Herbert warned his side that they faced their toughest game yet. Unfortunately, it appeared that warning wasn't heeded as Caernarfon scored from their first two attacks in the game.

The home side took an early lead on 6 minutes after poor defending by Conwy and a sloppy clearance led to a free kick 30 years out which home defender Lee McArdle stepped up to strike into the net leaving Louie Mackin clutching at air.

Conwy were applying plenty of pressure and two well worked chances fell to Levi Mackin but on both occasions his shots were fired well over from just inside the box.

But just 10 minutes later Caernarfon scored again from another attack, with the Conwy defence absent as Cai Jones took on Ywain Gwynedd's through ball to finish past Mackin inside the box.

As if things couldn't get any worse for the visitors, on 22 minutes Caernarfons Luke Powell-Thomas was put through on goal and went down inside the box under the challenge of Peter Doran. The referee awarded the penalty which resulted in a straight red card for the defender for denying a goalscoring opportunity. After the game Doran was adamant that it wasn't a foul and that was also backed by the Conwy bench. From the resultant penalty kick Conwy keeper, Louie Mackin, denied Jordan Barrow by pulling off a great save to keep his side in the game.

"It was a very poor start to the game from us, and it cost us the game, then the sending off killed us really." said a frustrated Chris Herbert, "Yet again it was a very, very soft sending off for Peter, it was exactly the same as Teddy Whelan's sending off the other week. It was a shoulder to shoulder challenge and the player has gone over by being out-muscled, but the ref give the pen which left him with no option but to send Peter off which was very harsh on us and Peter."

"But that is no excuse, because we were so sloppy, the lads put themselves under presure in a big way. I warned the lads that they are playing the best team in the league, and we can not afford to carry anyone at all, and we ended up carrying 4-5 players, which is not good enough."

However to their credit, with the odds stacked against them, Conwy refused to lie down and went on the front foot. On 33 minutes they pulled themselves back into the game when Mike Jukes scored with a smart volley from close range for his third goal in three games to make it 2-1.

The Tangerines held on until half time to go into the break with just one goal separating the sides.

However, right at the start of the second half Caernarfon restored their two goal advantage as the pacey Darren Thomas, a thorn in the borough side all game, outpaced Darren Moss to race onto a through ball and he finished superbly to chipped over the on-rushing Mackin and into the corner of the net to make it 3-1.

The frontman went close on two more occasions but was denied by Mackin and some excellent defending as Caernarfon had chances to put the game out of reach. But then Conwy pulled another goal back when a corner kick was turned over the line by substitute Aiden Shannon to bring it back to 3-2.

The Tangerines then almost had an equaliser on 84 minutes when another corner kick ricoched around the Caernarfon area like a pinball until it fell to Gareth Sudlow who's shot hit the side netting to the frustration of the Conwy faithful.

However another fairy tale comeback wasn't to be on this occasion as the home side sealed their win a minute later when a clearance from a Caernarfon corner fell to substitute Daniel Murphy, who volleying the ball past Mackin to make it 4-2with the visitors protests for a foul on the Conwy goalkeeper waved away by the referee.

The result in the end seemed slightly harsh after a valiant effort by Herbert's ten men to try and get something from the game from an almost impossible situation, but lessons will have to be learnt if Conwy Borough are to have any hope of closing the gap on leaders Cefn Druids which has now extended to 8 points after Saturdays results.

Herbert said after the game: "As I said to the lads, the defeat will hurt them, but good teams bounce back, and if there is ever a team that are capable of going unbeaten second half of the season, then it's us. So now we start again and wait for the teams above us to slip-up."

Caernarfon Team: Paul Pritchard, Lee McArdle, Moses Barnett, Grahame Austin, Clive Williams, Kevin Roberts, Jordan Barrow, Luke Powell-Thomas, Darren Thomas, Ywain Gwynedd, Cai Jones.

Subs: Daniel Murphy & Gerwyn Jones

Conwy Borough Team: Louie Mackin, Peter Doran, Phil Doran, Gareth Sudlow, Darren Moss, Barry Hogan, Sean Myler, Levi Mackin, Mike Jukes, Ryan Wignall, Ellis Healing.

Subs: Aden Shannon, Matty Holt, Chris King, Alan Bull, John Keegan.